Author Archives: Fabio.dilorenzo

We are glad to hear about the general availability of APP-V 5.0 RTM.

The Ontrex SPA is already prepared for this major upgrade and is happy to be able to offer you various services regarding APP-V 5.0 which includes but is not limited to:

Migration Services (from earlier APP-V Versions), Consulting Services, Trainings and of course our matchless software packaging services.

Source: App-V 5.0 RTM now released!

Today i want to take care of some very frequent traps regarding x86/x64.

Runtimes 

The question is usually very simple: Which runtime architecture do i have to preinstall for my X86 Application on a Windows x64 Operating System?

For those who dont know what runtimes are ill give some examples:

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Native Client
• Microsoft Core XML Service 6

Short answer: Usually you must match the applications architecture not the operating system ones!

But the exception proves the rule. Lets examine: “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Native Client”:

When you actually try to install the x86 runtime on a windows x64 it will simply block the installation.

But why? i think microsoft wants to stop those confusing situation by creating packages which simply match the OS Architecture. So people dont have to care about the applications architecture.

Because if you look inside the x64 MSI you will see the following:

As you can see the x64 Installer also contains the x86 version of the SQL Native Client.

ODBC Data Sources  / Drivers

Another nightmare which leads to many inquires from our customers.

ODBC Data Sources & Drivers are seperate for each Architecture due to the Registry Redirection mechanism of “Windows on Windows64” (WOW64).

X86 Applications need x86 Data Sources / Drivers and x64 Applications need x64 Data Sources / Drivers.

In our opinion the biggest mistake microsoft has done is just to link to the x64 ODBC Administrator in the Control Panel despite the fact that the application landscape is still mostly x86.

To open you the x86 ODBC Administrator you must manually run:

C:WindowsSysWOW64odbcad32.exe

Those entries will be used for native x86 application. Bear that in mind.

Regards,
Fabio

Microsoft has published a new KB article which may be interesting for our customers which may want to plan to use Symantec PGP concurrently with APP-V 4.5.

According to this article the Microsoft APP-V Service wont start as long as an incompatible product is installed.

[01/11/2011 08:12:56:691 INTF ERR] {tid=C10}The Application Virtualization Client service cannot be initialized because it found an incompatible product (PGP Desktop version 10.2.0.1672).  No known compatible version exists.

This is for protection purpose because otherwise a BSoD could appear.

The only solution currently available is upgrading to app-v client version 4.6 or higher.

Source: http://goo.gl/xiwiY (KB2625501)

Regards,

Fabio

Somestimes our customers require us to package the software that way that it automatically sets the language according to the Windows UI Language.

Now the big question is, which is the best way to determine the language during a windows installer “transaction”?

Here you are:

dim dezUI,hexUI,language
dezUI = GetUILanguage
hexUI = hex(dezUI)

do while len(hexUI) < 4
	hexUI = "0" + hexUI
loop

If hexUI = "0404" Then
	language = "T_Chinese"

ElseIf hexUI = "0804" Then
	language = "S_Chinese"

Elseif right(hexUI,2) = "07" Then
	language = "german"

Elseif right(hexUI,2) = "09" Then
	language = "english"

Elseif right(hexUI,2) = "0C" Then
	language = "french"

ElseIf hexUI = "0411" Then
	language = "Japanese"

ElseIf hexUI = "0412" Then
	language = "Korean"

ElseIf hexUI = "0416" Then
	language = "B_Portuguese"

Elseif right(hexUI,2) = "0A" Then
	language = "spanish"

Else
	language = "english"

End If

Session.Property("ONTX_LANGUAGE") = language

First we get the “decimal format” of the current UI language. The returned string is e.g 1033 which actually means “English – United States”.

Thats the first challenge: We usually only want to match a language and not a region at all. The next step is to convert that string into a hexdecimal value. And after that we have a value like this ‘409’. This value however must be 16Bit and therefore we add leading zero’s till we have a 4 digit hex value.

Now its quiet simple: the last 2 digits always(*) represent the language and the first 2 digits are for the region.

Examples:

• All english languages end with 09
• All french languages end with 0c
• All german languages end with 07

Bear in Mind: UI Language is a per user setting and you cannot therefore “ask” the operating system for it during a initial installation. this will run in system context and will always return english as language. you can however abuse the self repair or activesetup mechanism to run this script in per user context and then write the corresponding registry key/files.

(*) No rules without exceptions, you should anyway consult the following microsoft article:

Locale IDs Assigned by Microsoft: http://goo.gl/vjjst

(this is an english rewrite of the popular german article “Zusätzliche Special Folders”. However it includes some new findings regarding this topic)

The windows installer technology provides the most frequent needed special folder directory properties out of the box.

However sometimes you need to reference a directory which isnt directly supported (yet).

The following VBScript uses the “Shell.Application” object to get the actual path of the requested special folder. (in our example for “CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS”)

Insert this action as ““Call VBScript From Embedded Code” Action directly after “CostInitialize” in both “User Interface” and “Execute Immediate”.

Const CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS = &h2e

Set objShell = CreateObject(“Shell.Application”)

Session.Property(“ONTX_COMMON_DOCUMENTS”) = objShell.Namespace(CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS).Self.Path

Set objShell = nothing

Afterwards, insert the following line into the directory table:

Bear in mind to add all those properties into the “SecureCustomProperties” Property.

You may use then this property as any other known directory property (eg. SystemFolder, ProgramFilesFolder)

By following the link at the end of the article you will get all known CSIDL’s which can be used for this script.

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Symantec has entered a partnership with Flexera Software, introducing a new solution, “AdminStudio for Symantec”, based on Flexera’s industry leading technology.

Flexera AdminStudio for Symantec includes integration with Symantec technologies and full support for all of the latest Windows operating systems and installation-related technologies, including the ability to capture both 32-bit and 64-bit applications. In addition, AdminStudio Virtualization Pack, an optional add-on pack, offers advanced packaging support for the application virtualization technologies from Microsoft (App-V), VMware (ThinApp) and Citrix (Xen App).

A Wise Package Studio 8.0 maintenance release is planned for late 2011 or early 2012. The release is expected to include critical bug fixes, and 64-bit support for the WiseScript Editor and SetupCapture tools. Flexera plans to add the enhanced WiseScript Editor to AdminStudio for Symantec and will continue to develop and support the tool going forward.

Therefore as of November 7, 2011, all versions of Wise Package Studio and the Wise Connector, including any Maintenance Packs and/or patches for each version, in all released languages will reach their End of Life (EOL).

Please visit www.wise-migration.com for more details!

Regards,

SPA Team